Cajun Sports

The boys from Texas are north of the boarder for Game One of their three-game series against the host Blue Jays Friday night. The Rangers appear to have gotten their groove back winners of five straight and currently just two games below the Mendoza Line. We have a pair of left-handers getting the start for their respective teams on Friday night. Toronto is sending Yusei Kikuchi to the bump with his 4-9 SU record and his ERA of 4.54. Kikuchi has managed to pitch just six innings in only three of his last thirteen starts, a concerning trend given that he’s backed by the league’s second-worst bullpen in the majors, which has an ERA of 5.01.The Rangers will send Andrew Heaney to the mound along with his 4-10 SU and his ERA of 3.60. Heaney has put together five straight outings allowing two or fewer runs. In the month of July Andrew Heaney has made three starts tossing 15.1 innings posting a record of 1-1 SU with a 1.17 ERA and a .182 opposing batting average while Yusei Kikuchi is 0-1 SU with a 5.96 ERA and a 1.28 WHIP in 22.2 innings during his four starts. The TPR Index projects a run advantage of 1.41 runs in favor of the Rangers. The SIM Matrix has the Texas Rangers with a 73.99 percent advantage against the Toronto Blue Jays in tonight’s contest. The Rangers offense performs much better against left-handed starters than the Jays offense. With Kikuchi holding an ERA of 7.49 ERA since mid-June the Rangers should have little trouble putting runs on the board while getting another win on Friday night.

The boys from Cigar City are north of the border playing an early week three-game series against the host Blue Birds. Cigar City took Game One on Tuesday night, winning 4 to 2 against the Jays. Tampa Bay holds a five to three game advantage in their season series against Toronto. The Rays improved to 3-2 on their seven-game road trip. Toronto is 1-3 to start their current nine-game homestand. The Blue Jays will send Yariel Rodriguez to the bump with his 1-3 SU record and his ERA of 3.78. Rodriguez went just four innings in his last start at Arizona, allowing four hits and two runs as the Jays fell 5 to 4 to the Diamondbacks. The Rays will hang their Game Two hopes on Zach Eflin who comes in with a 5-7 SU record and an ERA of 4.14 on the season. His last outing was a miserable one against the Yankees in the Bronx losing 6 to 1. Eflin went five innings allowing five runs on seven hits in the loss. We look for Eflin to bounce back here with a solid performance against the Jays. We know Eflin 17-4 SU (81%) (+$1,223) as a road favorite between -110 to -140. The TPR Index projects a run advantage of 1.33 runs. The SIM Matrix has the Tampa Bay Rays with a 73.95 percent advantage against the Toronto Blue Jays in tonight’s contest. We are going to lay the short price with the boys from Cigar City on Wednesday night north of the border.

The Giants are on the road in the City of Angels playing an early week four-game set against the host Dodgers. The Giants are 48-52 SU including 20-30 SU away from home. The Dodgers come in with a record of 59-41 SU which includes a record of 31-19 SU at Dodger Stadium. LA took Game One of this series winning 3 to 2 over the Giants to extend their season series lead to 7 to 3. The Giants will hand the ball to Jordan Hicks with his record of 4-6 SU and his ERA of 3.79. Hicks has not earned a win in any of his last nine starts overall, going 0-5 SU with a 5.57 ERA in that stretch. In two July starts, he is 0-2 SU with a 7.71 ERA over nine innings of work. Hicks has nine appearances (no decisions) against the Dodgers, two of which were starts he has an ERA of 1.23 against them over that span. LA will send Landon Knack to the mound with his 1-2 SU record with an ERA of 3.23 in eight outings with seven of those starts. He has faced the Giants this season back on June 28 in San Francisco. In that game he allowed one run on five hits over four innings of work and he was not involved in the decision. LA lost that game 5 to 3 even though Knack had a solid outing. The TPR Index projects a run advantage of 1.49 runs. The SPMatrix has Landon Knack with an average of 5.26 compared to Jordan Hicks who has an average of 5.03. Our next set of metrics looks at the overall Pitchers Power Ratings. Coming into this game and situation, Knack has a rating of 108 while Hicks has a rating of only 94 with the league average of 100. The SIM Matrix has the LA Dodgers with a 73.97 percent advantage against the San Francisco in tonight’s contest. Play ON MLB -120 or more favorites when they used five or more pitchers in a game yesterday, 4683-2869 SU (62%)(+$16,006). Play ON MLB favorites of -140 or more coming off a win in which they had six or fewer hits, 1067-573 SU (65%)(+$6,538). Play ON MLB home favorite after scoring three or fewer runs and winning as a favorite and it is not the first game of a series, 882-533 SU (62%)(+$6,696). We are going to back the home team as the Dodgers take a 2-0 series lead on Tuesday night in LA.

The Cincinnati Reds are on the road in the ATL on Monday for Game One of a three-game series against the host Braves. The Reds come in with a record of 47-53 having lost their last four games in a row. They have dropped to the bottom of the NL Central Division. The Braves are 54-44 on the season having dropped the final two in their weekend series against the Cardinals but they remain in second place in the NL East Division. The Reds will send Hunter Greene to the bump with his 6-4 SU record and an ERA of 3.34 on the year. Greene and the Reds are 1-4 SU his last five trips to the hill. The Braves will send Reynaldo Lopez to the mound with his 7-3 SU record and his ERA of 1.88 on the season. Lopez has not allowed more than three runs in a single start over his seventeen appearances this year. The TPR Index projects a run advantage of 1.58 runs. The SPMatrix has Reynaldo Lopez with an average of 8.16 compared to Hunter Greene who has an average of 6.93. Our next set of metrics looks at the overall Pitchers Power Ratings. Coming into this game and situation, Lopez has a rating of 127 while Greene has a rating of only 114 with the league average of 100. The SIM Matrix has the Atlanta Braves with a 73.99 percent advantage against the Cincinnati Reds in tonight’s contest. The Braves have a record of 7-3 SU against this Reds team in their last ten meetings including 5-1 SU last season which included a 3-0 SU sweep in the ATL. Play ON MLB favorites of more than -140 over a non-divisional opponent when they are coming off a four or more run SU loss in which they struck out more than two times, 1212-669 (64%)(+$5,960). Play ON MLB favorites of more than -140 over a non-divisional opponent when they are coming off a four or more run SU loss in which they struck out more than five times, 931-510 (65%)(+$5,428). Even with the multiple injuries the Braves have suffered they are still the better overall team, and we are going to back them tonight as they get back to their winning ways.